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Canada's national weekly current affairs magazineMon, 03 Aug 2015 00:25:17 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.2Montreal’s former No. 2 was courted to run for top job in the city, but declinedhttp://www.macleans.ca/news/montreals-former-no-2-was-courted-to-run-for-top-job-in-the-city-but-declined/
http://www.macleans.ca/news/montreals-former-no-2-was-courted-to-run-for-top-job-in-the-city-but-declined/#commentsWed, 24 Apr 2013 18:20:39 +0000http://www2.macleans.ca/?p=376568MONTREAL – As Quebec’s corruption inquiry awaits to hear from ex-Montreal mayor Gerald Tremblay, his former right-hand man is explaining he never wanted the top job.
Frank Zampino says he…

]]>MONTREAL – As Quebec’s corruption inquiry awaits to hear from ex-Montreal mayor Gerald Tremblay, his former right-hand man is explaining he never wanted the top job.

Frank Zampino says he was encouraged by his own entourage in 2007 to run for mayor but that he wasn’t interested.

He ultimately left city hall to return to the private sector in 2008 after discussing the matter with his family.

Within days of his retirement, he received multiple job offers from various firms before accepting one from engineering firm Dessau.

Dessau executive Rosaire Sauriol has testified Zampino was the most powerful man in the city and that he was aware Sauriol was making cash payments to Union Montreal, Zampino’s political party.

Zampino has denied that claim and told the Charbonneau Commission today he was “outraged” by a suggestion the Dessau job was in return for helping to fuel a corrupt contract system in Montreal.

He said he would not have received job offers had people thought he was corrupt.

The inquiry has heard that companies inflated the cost of public projects and that the extra cash was divided between the Mafia, corrupt bureaucrats and Union Montreal.

Some witnesses, including Zampino, have denied the existence of such a structured scheme.

In January 2007, Zampino was summoned to a “political sounding board” with trusted advisers and friends, who were kicking the tires around a possible run at the mayoralty for him.

Zampino said Sauriol told him he’d make a good choice for mayor if Tremblay didn’t want to run again.

But Zampino testified he told those present he didn’t want the top post and didn’t even know if he’d finish out his term.

Questioned by commission head France Charbonneau whether it was ethical for him to be discussing the city’s future with an engineering boss and not the mayor himself, Zampino said he’d always been loyal to Tremblay.

Zampino is facing a number of criminal charges, including fraud, conspiracy and breach of trust stemming from a City of Montreal land deal.

He is the highest-ranking political figure to testify so far at the inquiry, although he will soon be upstaged by Tremblay, a three-term mayor who stepped down last November after testimony at the inquiry.

Tremblay wanted to testify before the inquiry last fall to counter allegations he was aware of illegal party financing, but the inquiry had a different schedule.

]]>http://www.macleans.ca/news/montreals-former-no-2-was-courted-to-run-for-top-job-in-the-city-but-declined/feed/0‘Mr. Three Per Cent’ takes inquiry on tour of Quebec’s secret electoral racetrackhttp://www.macleans.ca/news/mr-three-per-cent-takes-inquiry-on-tour-of-quebecs-secret-electoral-racetrack/
http://www.macleans.ca/news/mr-three-per-cent-takes-inquiry-on-tour-of-quebecs-secret-electoral-racetrack/#commentsWed, 27 Mar 2013 01:42:09 +0000http://www2.macleans.ca/?p=365040MONTREAL – To hear “Mr. Three Per Cent” tell it, municipal politics in Quebec operated like a big racetrack — one where companies bet on different horses in the hope…

]]>MONTREAL – To hear “Mr. Three Per Cent” tell it, municipal politics in Quebec operated like a big racetrack — one where companies bet on different horses in the hope their candidate might gallop to victory and shower them with riches.

In his first day on the witness stand at Quebec’s corruption inquiry, Bernard Trepanier began to describe his role in municipal elections where private companies illegally financed campaign bids.

He called them “turn-key” elections. Companies would provide everything, and candidates could step right into their privately financed campaign operation.

In his days as an organizer for municipal parties on the outskirts of Montreal, Trepanier said political parties got cash from companies. Meanwhile, he got cash from parties. And he would be listed as a volunteer organizer, while the payments he received were mostly undeclared and illegal.

In essence, political campaigns were not just democratic contests between candidates — but a clash between various companies seeking post-election favours.

“There were small battles between area law firms, engineers and contractors, to get city contracts,” said Trepanier, as he began his long-awaited testimony.

He earned the unflattering nickname “Mr. Three Per Cent” in Quebec news reports over recent months, as other witnesseses cast him as a central player in corrupt municipal political schemes. Witnesses described a cartel system where companies inflated the cost of public projects, and split percentages with the Mafia, corrupt bureaucrats and Trepanier’s once-mighty Union Montreal party.

Such alleged practices would make a mockery of Rene Levesque’s landmark reform designed to clean up politics in the 1970s. That law, which has since been copied in numerous jurisdictions and at the federal level, banned corporate donations and limited personal contributions in Quebec.

Trepanier bluntly stated Tuesday that he did not believe Levesque’s law had ever been respected — at least not at the municipal level.

Eventually, when he went on to work for Union Montreal, Trepanier even got paid as a lobbyist from a big engineering company, Dessau Inc., at the same time that he handled fundraising for the party.

The inquiry heard that Trepanier, now 74 and retired, earned more than $900,000 between 2002 and 2010 from Dessau.

Trepanier explained Tuesday that the money from Dessau — about $100,000 a year — was for opening doors to contracts at Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport.

The airport is federal property, and the inquiry declined to explore those contracts because its mandate is limited to the provincial and municipal levels.

Trepanier described politics as a hobby.

Before he became a local player, he got his start at the federal level with the old Conservative party. He said he first got involved as a volunteer with the now-defunct Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 1983 in LaSalle, Que.

After the Tories’ 1984 election win, he went to Ottawa to work as an aide to several ministers — starting with Benoit Bouchard, then the minister of transport.

After Bouchard was shuffled to a different portfolio, Trepanier worked with a trio of other Tory ministers — including Suzanne Blais-Grenier and Andre Bissonnette, who was accused of fraud in a land deal and later acquitted by a jury.

Trepanier’s last post was with Monique Vezina in 1987. He would remain involved in the PC party until 1997 and he worked on the victorious leadership bid of Kim Campbell in 1993.

The inquiry will not probe Trepanier’s federal activities, as it focuses on its local and provincial mandate.

The former fundraiser from Union Montreal has been identified by witnesses as having collected a three per cent cut from construction contracts on behalf of the party. But another witness this week, ex-party agent Marc Deschamps, said Union Montreal never saw any of that money.

Trepanier has not yet been questioned about what happened to the money; his appearance will resume Wednesday.

Trepanier is one of three major witnesses expected to be heard by the inquiry in the coming days — the others being former Montreal executive committee chairman Frank Zampino and ex-mayor Gerald Tremblay.

The elderly man appeared nervous as he took the stand Tuesday, coughing frequently.

His hands shook as he tried to pour himself a glass and he warned on two occasions that a previous drinking problem might have caused gaps in his memory.

Before he began working in Montreal, Trepanier said he worked on elections in no fewer than nine municipalities in the greater Montreal area in the 1990s.

He got his local start in 1989 with Gilles Vaillancourt, the long-ruling Laval mayor who quit last fall under a cloud of scandal. Trepanier also worked with Zampino in his first election in St-Leonard, a suburb in east-end Montreal. Zampino now faces fraud charges, along with Trepanier.

Trepanier said he was never paid for his services by either of those two men. He said he had fun working with Zampino, calling his team “a good group, a family.”

“A friend is a friend,” he said of Zampino.

Trepanier says he took municipal election gigs as a way to build contacts.

In 2002, he started a consulting company he called Bermax. He responded enthusiastically when asked where the company name came from.

“My first name is Bernard, and it’s Bernard to the max!” he replied. The company was essentially a lobbying firm, although he never was formally registered as a lobbyist.

Through Bermax, Trepanier had a number of clients including major engineering firms like Desseau and SM, as well as a few communications and advertising firms.

Trepanier told the inquiry he first met Dessau officials while working in Ottawa in 1984, including a company founder and one of his sons. His contract with Dessau in 2002 was signed by Rosaire Sauriol, who this week quit the firm in scandal.

]]>http://www.macleans.ca/news/mr-three-per-cent-takes-inquiry-on-tour-of-quebecs-secret-electoral-racetrack/feed/0A dilemma for Montrealers: could less corruption mean more potholes?http://www.macleans.ca/news/a-dilemma-for-montrealers-could-less-corruption-mean-more-potholes/
http://www.macleans.ca/news/a-dilemma-for-montrealers-could-less-corruption-mean-more-potholes/#commentsFri, 22 Mar 2013 22:40:22 +0000http://www2.macleans.ca/?p=364033MONTREAL – Montrealers are now facing a bumpy dilemma on the road to clean government.
Residents of the city are being asked to choose between two less-than-inspiring options: Would they…

]]>MONTREAL – Montrealers are now facing a bumpy dilemma on the road to clean government.

Residents of the city are being asked to choose between two less-than-inspiring options: Would they prefer more potholes in their streets? Or would they like to see a city contract going to some companies involved in corruption scandals?

Because it seems that, for now, it’s one or the other.

The city administration is seeking citizens’ opinion, with a survey placed online Friday.

“Now citizens have a choice,” Mayor Michael Applebaum said.

“Do we go forward in awarding these contracts to companies where some people may have questions — or do we allow for these potholes to continue?”

Clearly, the mayor’s sympathies fall on one side of the debate. He hopes citizens vote to put pressure on council to renew the pothole-fixing contract — even if that means some of that contract money falls into questionable hands.

Allegations of rampant corruption have seen city council rebuff plans to renew a pothole-fixing contract with Montreal’s seven different asphalt suppliers.

Some of those companies have been named in the province’s corruption inquiry, and there is a movement afoot in the province to shun any firm accused of wrongdoing.

But now, to nobody’s great surprise, there’s a catch: Applebaum says the contract can only be executed by all seven companies, or none at all.

He says the seven companies are strategically located around the city so that they can quickly deliver hot asphalt to fill in the potholes.

“The longer you are on the road with the asphalt, the more the asphalt deteriorates,” said the mayor, after a photo op Friday where he made a point of filling in a pothole himself.

“You don’t have a proper quality of asphalt.”

He said handing out the contract would help ensure the security of drivers, pedestrians and cyclists.

The pothole Applebaum filled in, with media cameras in tow, was located in Old Montreal a few metres from Club 357-C, a private gathering spot mentioned during testimony at the corruption inquiry.

An opposition councillor said it’s not true Montrealers have no other choice.

Marc-Andre Gadoury said cold asphalt, supplied by companies outside Montreal, could be used after it’s been heated up.

“There are other companies, there are other means of getting asphalt,” he said.

But Gadoury admitted that would require installing a furnace in one of the city’s facilities, which he said could take up to six weeks.

What’s important is that the cartel of seven companies be broken up, said Gadoury, a member of Projet Montreal, one of the city hall opposition parties.

“If we keep awarding contracts to the same players that we see each day at the Charbonneau Commission, they will keep screwing us,” he said.

“We think it’s time to put a halt to this.”

The proliferation of potholes is a long-running joke in Montreal, although many motorists are more likely to curse in anger when they get a hard jolt upon hitting one.

The city streets could soon be echoing with a louder chorus of profanity.

Montreal will run out of asphalt around April 15, unless the contract is extended, Applebaum said.

He also wants the provincial government to do its part to help smooth things over. He said he would ask the province to pass inspection on the group of seven companies that would supply the $5 million contract for asphalt.

“If they are deemed illegal and not allowed to provide the asphalt,” he said, “then this contract will be cancelled.”

]]>http://www.macleans.ca/news/a-dilemma-for-montrealers-could-less-corruption-mean-more-potholes/feed/0Support grows for extending Quebec corruption inquiry deadlinehttp://www.macleans.ca/news/support-grows-for-extending-quebec-corruption-inquiry-deadline/
http://www.macleans.ca/news/support-grows-for-extending-quebec-corruption-inquiry-deadline/#commentsWed, 13 Mar 2013 18:32:24 +0000http://www2.macleans.ca/?p=360024MONTREAL – The extension of the mandate for Quebec’s corruption inquiry became more likely today after it was supported by opposition parties in the legislature.
Robert Poeti, the Liberal public…

]]>MONTREAL – The extension of the mandate for Quebec’s corruption inquiry became more likely today after it was supported by opposition parties in the legislature.

Robert Poeti, the Liberal public security critic and a former police officer, says extending the inquiry deadline to spring 2015 would be an investment in the future.

He says the cost of prolonging the inquiry another 18 months can be justified because it is a protection against increased costs incurred through corruption.

Justice France Charbonneau, who heads the inquiry, asked the government earlier this week for another 18 months so the commission could finish its work and write up its report.

The Parti Quebecois government, which had demanded an inquiry back when it was in opposition, is unlikely to say no. Justice Minister Bertrand St-Arnaud said cabinet is studying the request for the extension.

“Cabinet will have to make a decision on this request,” he said.

The provincial Liberals aren’t the only ones backing more time for the inquiry.

Quebec’s order of engineers has also come out in favour of giving the inquiry more time.

Jacques Duchesneau, a member of the Coalition party and a former Montreal police chief, says he also wants to see the inquiry continue because the end result will be lower construction costs.

“It doesn’t bother me. On the contrary, it’s saving us money.”

The inquiry was set up in 2011 by then-premier Jean Charest after intense pressure to tackle allegations of corruption in the awarding of public contracts and organized crime influence in the construction industry.

So far, the probe has heard incendiary testimony about rampant corruption in public procurement — with the Italian Mafia, political parties and crooked bureaucrats supposedly involved in a number of schemes.

But the inquiry has focused almost exclusively on municipal politics so far, and has barely dipped its toe beyond Montreal. It prompted the resignation last fall of the mayor of Montreal, Gerald Tremblay, following claims from a witness whose testimony is now under attack.

Observers have speculated for months that the inquiry appeared to be running out of time and would inevitably need to request a deadline extension

A change in the schedule could hold a number of political implications.

The Parti Quebecois has a minority government. The schedule delay could mean that the politically explosive probe is still a factor while the government approaches the fourth year of its mandate.

It also could extend the life of corruption issues as a defining force in Quebec politics.

Dumont told the inquiry that he had never told anyone about the conversation and became emotional when recounting it years later on the stand.

But Dumont’s credibility has been under attack, with subsequent testimony calling into question the accuracy of some of his claims. He was even heard telling investigators that he’d made up one of the anecdotes during his testimony.

]]>MONTREAL – A Quebec construction boss says he gave generously to municipal and political parties of all stripes, but never expected contracts in return.

Joe Borsellino says he viewed the various events as a networking exercise.

He contributed to the provincial Liberals, and to a lesser extent the Parti Quebecois, along with municipal parties in Montreal.

He says his contributions were always made by cheque, never with cash, though he admitted he may have reimbursed people outside his family for donations they made on one or two occasions. It is illegal to funnel donations through third parties in order to hide contributions that exceed the limits.

Testifying for a fourth day today, the owner of Garnier Construction says the fundraising cocktails were a great way to meet different people: engineering-firm executives, land developers, accountants and law firms were all present, he says.

But he was vague when asked a followup question: In what way was it useful?

He was asked repeatedly by commission lawyers what the political parties could do for him. He replied that it was good to be seen attending such events, and being able to network was good for business.

He denies that he ever sought favours, such as kickbacks or help in gaining contracts.

Borsellino says he no longer attends cocktails today because it gives the impression of a conflict of interest, to be bidding on contracts while being cosy with the political class.

He says the requests for political donations dried up around 2007 or 2008.

]]>http://www.macleans.ca/general/quebec-corruption-inquiry-shifts-focus-to-provincial-party-financing/feed/0Puppet-master in Montreal corruption schemes? A mid-level city employee: witnesshttp://www.macleans.ca/general/puppet-master-in-montreal-corruption-schemes-a-mid-level-city-employee-witness/
http://www.macleans.ca/general/puppet-master-in-montreal-corruption-schemes-a-mid-level-city-employee-witness/#commentsTue, 05 Feb 2013 22:35:34 +0000http://www2.macleans.ca/?p=346934MONTREAL – A corrupt cartel that controlled Montreal’s construction industry was not set up by the Mafia, or by company bosses, but by a mid-level municipal functionary, according to testimony…

]]>MONTREAL – A corrupt cartel that controlled Montreal’s construction industry was not set up by the Mafia, or by company bosses, but by a mid-level municipal functionary, according to testimony heard Tuesday.

That account, provided by a construction boss at Quebec’s corruption inquiry, marked a dramatic departure from previous testimony heard in recent months.

Earlier testimony had suggested that city officials simply drew financial benefit by co-operating with the bid-rigging system in public procurement.

But, to hear Joe Borsellino tell it, a bureaucrat was the one pulling the strings.

The Garnier Construction boss said it was city engineer Gilles Surprenant — who has since earned the nickname “Mr. GST” — who masterminded the collusion.

Borsellino said he had heard rumours about collusion in the Montreal construction industry since the 1980s, but he said his first experience with the system came in an encounter with Surprenant.

He said that as his company became active in public bids, Surprenant urged him to partner up in schemes with other companies.

Borsellino said nothing came of that first conversation. But he said Surprenant convened another meeting in the mid-1990s and said to three construction bosses, “Guys, work together.”

Borsellino explained why construction companies might be vulnerable to such pressure. He said contractors face financial disaster when a job goes wrong, and the early 1990s were especially tough.

“We suffer. We suffer because we don’t get paid,” he said. Municipal decision-makers have considerable power to delay or hinder a project, he said.

“When the key man (in the city) calls and says, ‘Come and see me, I can solve your problem,’ (we go).”

And he boldly predicted that, despite all the ongoing efforts in Quebec to clean up the industry, such a dynamic will always exist.

“It happened. And it’s going to continue to happen in the years to come. There’s people at the city who were very powerful,” Borsellino said.

“And they could tell a contractor, ‘You’re not gonna make any money unless you listen to me.'”

The inquiry has previously heard that, for many years, a cabal of construction companies conspired to inflate the price of construction projects in Quebec, and split the profits with political parties, friendly civil servants and the Mafia.

Numerous times Tuesday, Borsellino was short on specifics.

The witness had trouble remembering if his first attempt at a rigged contract worked. He couldn’t remember how much Surprenant received as a kickback.

Surprenant has already admitted to inflating prices on projects and collecting more than $700,000 in kickbacks over the years.

But the retired bureaucrat offered a different version of the facts about the origins of the corruption when he testified last fall.

“I’m not a villain. I am a civil servant who has been corrupted,” Surprenant said, emphasizing that the corruption originated with contractors themselves.

Also Tuesday, Borsellino said he buttered up a powerful union boss with expensive hockey tickets, fancy dinners and even a trip to Italy.

He couldn’t say if he got anything in return.

Borsellino admitted he was generous with the former head of the Quebec Federation of Labour’s construction wing, Jocelyn Dupuis.

He called him a friend.

On the stand for a second day, Borsellino faced a grilling from commission counsel about his relationship with Dupuis, who once ran Quebec’s most powerful construction union.

The testimony didn’t always go smoothly.

Borsellino, who was heard speaking fluent French on police wiretaps, said Tuesday that he was having trouble understanding questions being put to him in that language.

His responses were a Montrealesque blend of both official languages, with the two frequently mixed into the same sentence.

In one example, when asked why he gave Dupuis so many gifts, Borsellino offered a reply in French and English.

“Well, he’s a friend, mais aussi (but also) because he’s at the union,” Borsellino said

Borsellino said that while he never gave Dupuis money, he often plied him with gifts like hockey tickets to Montreal Canadiens games, fancy meals and even a trip to Italy with their wives.

Others joined that trip too: former municipal public-works boss Robert Marcil and Yves Lortie, a vice-president from another construction firm.

Borsellino said a number of cancelled City of Montreal contracts, worth millions, were what pushed him to invite Marcil. “I wanted to improve my relationship with the city,” Borsellino told the commission, adding that he never gave Marcil any money.

Borsellino paid for much of the Italy trip out of pocket and it cost him $50,000.

He also gave him access to a $300,000 luxury condominium in an Old Montreal building for three years until it was sold in 2010.

The building, located on De la Commune Street, has made headlines in the last week, being described in reports as a haven for biker gangs and Mafia associates.

The inquiry heard wiretaps of Dupuis and Borsellino discussing a $40 million contract to refurbish a Rio Tinto plant in Saguenay and whether Dupuis might be able to help him get the winning bid.

A wide range of topics came up during the calls: a potential investment in Parasuco Jeans by the FTQ’s investment wing; a Club Med development project in Florida; and then-provincial cabinet minister Tony Tomassi.

Borsellino said he had done a “little thing” for Tomassi, who later resigned from politics in scandal and who now faces fraud charges. He did not specify what that “little thing” might have been.

Garnier did not win the contract for the Rio Tinto project.

“If I had a project, I talked to him. He was a friend,” was how Borsellino described his relationship with the union boss. “To the best of my knowledge, he didn’t help me get any contracts.”

Dupuis headed FTQ-Construction between 1997 and 2008. It is the largest construction labour union in the province.

He was forced to resign in 2008. Dupuis is now facing unrelated fraud charges.

Borsellino did not agree to be pre-interviewed by inquiry investigators and his testimony has been laden with incomplete answers and frequent memory lapses.

At one point inquiry chair France Charbonneau intervened and warned Borsellino that vague answers wouldn’t get him anywhere.

His name has been mentioned previously by former city employees who say they received kickbacks from Borsellino.

Another high-profile witness, Lino Zambito, has said that Borsellino’s company Garnier was one of those that belonged to a cartel of companies that controlled sewer contracts.

]]>MONTREAL – Quebec’s corruption inquiry has heard from police, construction bosses and bureaucrats. Pretty soon, that list could grow to include a suspected Mafia boss.

The lawyer for a reputed member of the Montreal Mafia is trying to get his client out of testifying before the inquiry.

Raynald Desjardins is currently awaiting trial for first-degree murder in the slaying of a former Bonanno crime boss.

Lawyer Marc Labelle says since his client is already awaiting trial, testifying before the inquiry could hinder his attempt to find an impartial jury.

A lawyer representing the inquiry says it’s interested in Desjardins’ involvement in a construction firm that specialized in decontamination.

Labelle notes that Desjardins’ earlier failed attempt to have a subpoena quashed before the Quebec Superior Court received heavy media coverage and he says any testimony before the inquiry would get 10 times more attention.

The lawyer asked for commission counsel to make sure it was absolutely necessary for Desjardins to testify, and, if so, that it be done behind closed doors under a publication ban.

Simon Tremblay, a commission counsel, called Desjardins’ request premature and noted the date of his murder trial has not even been set.

France Charbonneau, who heads the commission, says she’ll deliberate on the request.